At Facebook, one way to gauge the importance of a product is by looking at the org chart. By that measure, video is up there.

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Product manager Justin Shaffer, who has led several high-profile projects at the company, such as “groups” and “places,” and product marketing director Jim Squires are spearheading Facebook’s video ad efforts, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Shaffer joined the company in late 2010 as part of Facebook’s acqui-hire of his startup Hot Potato. That company focused on check-ins for live events and activities, including watching television and listening to music. Soon after joining Facebook, Shaffer went on to lead the groups product, a tool to allow users to create smaller, private conversations and share information and files within these circles. He also led places, a location check-in tool, and recently worked on Timeline, the main stream in a member’s profile page.

Squires, who has been with Facebook since 2009, previously worked at Yahoo and Ning, another social network. At Facebook, he was a major force behind the development of “sponsored stories,” ads that are promoted based on friends’ activity, such as “liking” a brand’s page.